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Polygon - Exclusive: 19 Minutes of PHANTOM DUST Remastered Gameplay

So the devs were able to render an OG Xbox game at 1080p/4K with no access to the source code:
"“The biggest thing is moving [Phantom Dust] to 16:9 and moving to native resolution. So what that basically means is that if you’re playing on Xbox One, you’re running at 1080p so the game is going to render at 1080p; if you’re on a PC and you’re playing at 4K resolution, the game will render its assets at 4K,”"

https://www.polygon.com/videos/2017...-2017-hd-rerelease-xbox-one-pc-gameplay-video

What could they do with old games from that era that they do have access to the source codes?

Perhaps this is a pilot for more re-releases of that era coming this way, in a way to fill that "generationless platform" that was so mentioned at E3 last year?
 

Dinjoralo

Member
Looking at the footage, I noticed that the guy appears to be playing this on PC with a keyboard and mouse. Which probably explains a bit of the stiffness in how he's moving around.
fVpNvez.jpg

Actually Phil didn't even know this was being worked on for quite some time. Someone internal to MS did this as more of a passion project and just kinda showed it to Phil one day saying "Yeah it's almost done too!".

That. Is. Awesome. Makes me want to support it even more! Come ooooon, twenty dollars or less!
 

Zeta Oni

Member
qwe.png


Adam also said this. But i dunno it doesn't seem like it's anything other than a port graphically.

I certainly see no "wizardry".

So getting a game up and running on two platforms it was never released on while looking better than it did at release and avoiding the issues that normally come with upscaling, all done while having no access to the games source code is just a walk in the park right?
 

Ishmae1

Member
Let me clear the air a bit. I'm Adam Isgreen (mods feel free to verify), the guy talking in the interview.

My bad for not correcting Nick immediately on remaster vs. re-release. We had a fire drill go off during the interview (random, yes), and that certainly disrupted the flow of the conversation, as we picked up in the middle after I could get back in the building.

My personal story on PD is that I missed it on the original Xbox. I'm pretty ashamed of that since I adore all of Futatsugi-san's games, have all of the Panzers in both Japanese and English, including Saga (SEGA GIVE IT TO CODE MYSTICS!), and I somehow missed this game.

I first played it after hearing Phil mention that he constantly gets asked about it by press / fans on Twitter. Grabbed it on 360 BC. After the first hour I thought "what is all the fuss about?". It starts slow and doesn't pick up until you get past Chapter 2 and can build arsenals (decks), which can be a good two hours into the game. Once that happens in campaign, and when you start to play multiplayer, this light goes on and you realize how deep and amazing this game is at its heart. 13 years and there's no perfect deck to the game. Stick skill and deck planning are equally as important. Teamwork is insanely rewarding. There's a skill that does anything you can possibly imagine you could do in arena-based combat.

Consider me converted. I get it now. More people need to grok this game. I'm part of the cult, and that's OK, because it's a great cult to be in.

The game is a re-release of the 2004 game with improvements that were possible to do without having final source code. I get that many just don't care about that point (should you need to?) but it is what it is and it is a huge deal to not have access to source yet try to improve things anyway. Could we have done more if we had working final source code? Yes, without a doubt, but that wasn't the case.

Let me add that Code Mystics (the development team) are absolute ninjas. This was a 2004 4:3 game. They cracked open and rewrote the renderer, fixed the culling (making the screen display 16x9 is only the first part of the issue), added LIVE support, enabled easy balance tuning, got cross-play working, re-enabled hundreds of custom shaders and VFX (DX8 to DX11 is not a fun conversion, I've learned), made UI changes, and got the framerate to a massively stable 30 FPS on any machine / platform, all while not being able to truly modify the game at its core. That is a feat. Likely you have to be in development to appreciate that, but it's not easy work.

Why isn't it 60 FPS?
The entire engine was built around the game running at 30 FPS. Everything in the code and data is either frames @ 30, assumes 30, or hard-coded to expect 30 FPS.

The frame rate averages 30 FPS now on a wide range of systems. The worst dips we've seen are to 26/27 in certain moments. This is massively improved from the original (for those that played it) which would drop into the teens constantly on destruction events.

Here's PC min-specs:
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz | AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 | AMD Radeon HD 7750
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection

It's an XPA title, so cross-play and cross-saves are supported.

Why original assets?
Because we didn't have source is the major reason, and also because for a 2004 game, it holds up well in comparison to other games from that time. That's subjective of course, but we're trying to capture and preserve what PD was, not re-create it. It was funky, certainly, and that's part of its DNA.

Why wasn't a date / price announced?
We're re-releasing PD because we love its unique gameplay and style. Everyone here at MS wants PD to get a chance to be played, so sometimes dates, price, and how to get it broad exposure is debated a lot. Gold? Not? Free? Not? Other programs? It goes back and forth, and many different groups are in that discussion. The short of it is that we want everyone to be able to play PD, so you can expect it'll be priced accordingly.

OMG there's micro-transactions?!
Yes, to accelerate multiplayer deck building. It is completely optional. The campaign gets you a lot of skills and credits to use just by playing through it. You also earn skills and credits just by playing MP as well. PD already has a skill shop, credits, random "junk" packs, rare skills, and everything you'd seen in games today -- and it did all that in 2004.

There's also free skills and a deck case you get to start MP off with, so that if you don't want to play the campaign, you don't have to.

Graphics are dated, meme.jpg, etc.
Yep! It's a game from 2004. We preserved its look, but really you shouldn't be hung up on looks here because this is a player's game, not a looker's game. Design-wise and mechanically, you will not find another game that plays like it, even today (closest in feeling is MOBAs, actually).

Sometimes (well, OK, often) we make games to make money, but this re-release isn't focused on that. It's about recognizing something unique and novel, and allowing more people to discover it. PD's play - especially multiplayer - is completely unique and (IMO) very, very fun. It never got a chance to prove that on its original (limited) release, so now more people get to discover it, which is all we want out of it.

So I'll simply close by saying play first, then judge. Feel free to tweet me your thoughts once it's out (@Ishmae1) and I'll be happy to discuss it with you.
 

m23

Member
The DLC mentioned in the video was a free starter pack for multiplayer. Then a paid pack to access all of the skills for multiplayer, and that was it. They never mentioned adding any micro transactions at all in the video.

Thanks.

I want to play this right now.
 

Zeta Oni

Member
Let me clear the air a bit. I'm Adam Isgreen (mods feel free to verify), the guy talking in the interview.

My bad for not correcting Nick immediately on remaster vs. re-release. We had a fire drill go off during the interview (random, yes), and that certainly disrupted the flow of the conversation, as we picked up in the middle after I could get back in the building.

My personal story on PD is that I missed it on the original Xbox. I'm pretty ashamed of that since I adore all of Futatsugi-san's games, have all of the Panzers in both Japanese and English, including Saga (SEGA GIVE IT TO CODE MYSTICS!), and I somehow missed this game.

I first played it after hearing Phil mention that he constantly gets asked about it by press / fans on Twitter. Grabbed it on 360 BC. After the first hour I thought "what is all the fuss about?". It starts slow and doesn't pick up until you get past Chapter 2 and can build arsenals (decks), which can be a good two hours into the game. Once that happens in campaign, and when you start to play multiplayer, this light goes on and you realize how deep and amazing this game is at its heart. 13 years and there's no perfect deck to the game. Stick skill and deck planning are equally as important. Teamwork is insanely rewarding. There's a skill that does anything you can possibly imagine you could do in arena-based combat.

Consider me converted. I get it now. More people need to grok this game. I'm part of the cult, and that's OK, because it's a great cult to be in.

The game is a re-release of the 2003 game with improvements that were possible to do without having final source code. I get that many just don't care about that point (should you need to?) but it is what it is and it is a huge deal to not have access to source yet try to improve things anyway. Could we have done more if we had working final source code? Yes, without a doubt, but that wasn't the case.

Let me add that Code Mystics (the development team) are absolute ninjas. This was a 2003 4:3 game. They cracked open and rewrote the renderer, fixed the culling (making the screen display 16x9 is only the first part of the issue), added LIVE support, enabled easy balance tuning, got cross-play working, re-enabled hundreds of custom shaders and VFX (DX8 to DX11 is not a fun conversion, I've learned), made UI changes, and got the framerate to a massively stable 30 FPS on any machine / platform, all while not being able to truly modify the game at its core. That is a feat. Likely you have to be in development to appreciate that, but it's not easy work.

Why isn't it 60 FPS?
The entire engine was built around the game running at 30 FPS. Everything in the code and data is either frames @ 30, assumes 30, or hard-coded to expect 30 FPS.

The frame rate averages 30 FPS now on a wide range of systems. The worst dips we've seen are to 26/27 in certain moments. This is massively improved from the original (for those that played it) which would drop into the teens constantly on destruction events.

Here's PC min-specs:
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz | AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 | AMD Radeon HD 7750
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection

It's an XPA title, so cross-play and cross-saves are supported.

Why original assets?
Because we didn't have source is the major reason, and also because for a 2003 game, it holds up well in comparison to other games from that time. That's subjective of course, but we're trying to capture and preserve what PD was, not re-create it. It was funky, certainly, and that's part of its DNA.

Why wasn't a date / price announced?
We're re-releasing PD because we love its unique gameplay and style. Everyone here at MS wants PD to get a chance to be played, so sometimes dates, price, and how to get it broad exposure is debated a lot. Gold? Not? Free? Not? Other programs? It goes back and forth, and many different groups are in that discussion. The short of it is that we want everyone to be able to play PD, so you can expect it'll be priced accordingly.

OMG there's micro-transactions?!
Yes, to accelerate multiplayer deck building. It is completely optional. The campaign gets you a lot of skills and credits to use just by playing through it. You also earn skills and credits just by playing MP as well. PD already has a skill shop, credits, random "junk" packs, rare skills, and everything you'd seen in games today -- and it did all that in 2003.

There's also free skills and a deck case you get to start MP off with, so that if you don't want to play the campaign, you don't have to.

Graphics are dated, meme.jpg, etc.
Yep! It's a game from 2003. We preserved its look, but really you shouldn't be hung up on looks here because this is a player's game, not a looker's game. Design-wise and mechanically, you will not find another game that plays like it, even today (closest in feeling is MOBAs, actually).

Sometimes (well, OK, often) we make games to make money, but this re-release isn't focused on that. It's about recognizing something unique and novel, and allowing more people to discover it. PD's play - especially multiplayer - is completely unique and (IMO) very, very fun. It never got a chance to prove that on its original (limited) release, so now more people get to discover it, which is all we want out of it.

So I'll simply close by saying play first, then judge. Feel free to tweet me your thoughts once it's out (@Ishmae1) and I'll be happy to discuss it with you.

Thank you for all the hard work to bring this game back, and while it sucks this thread has been going the direction its in, just know a lot of us are happy to have this game back.

Also if you don't mind, give my regards to the team at Code Mystics. Sounds like they did an amazing and difficult job that probably wont receive the appreciation it deserves.
 

Shiggy

Member
It looks pretty much like what you'd expect from what they said. It's a game for the fans of the original, it's better than nothing probably given Microsoft's current first party strategy.


this is a player's game, not a looker's game

That should become a meme, especially with Scorpio on the horizon.
 

Arials

Member
I know the fact that we're seeing this pre E3 means they think they've got lots of better stuff to show at E3 but even with that caveat everything about Microsoft's delivery of this is poor.
 
Honestly, just getting released with online play was all I needed. 30fps was expected. Arbitrary resolution is good to hear.

The game is godlike. The card game aspect makes it a hard game for the uninitiated to appreciate from just a video look.
 
Let me clear the air a bit. I'm Adam Isgreen (mods feel free to verify), the guy talking in the interview.

My bad for not correcting Nick immediately on remaster vs. re-release. We had a fire drill go off during the interview (random, yes), and that certainly disrupted the flow of the conversation, as we picked up in the middle after I could get back in the building.

My personal story on PD is that I missed it on the original Xbox. I'm pretty ashamed of that since I adore all of Futatsugi-san's games, have all of the Panzers in both Japanese and English, including Saga (SEGA GIVE IT TO CODE MYSTICS!), and I somehow missed this game.

I first played it after hearing Phil mention that he constantly gets asked about it by press / fans on Twitter. Grabbed it on 360 BC. After the first hour I thought "what is all the fuss about?". It starts slow and doesn't pick up until you get past Chapter 2 and can build arsenals (decks), which can be a good two hours into the game. Once that happens in campaign, and when you start to play multiplayer, this light goes on and you realize how deep and amazing this game is at its heart. 13 years and there's no perfect deck to the game. Stick skill and deck planning are equally as important. Teamwork is insanely rewarding. There's a skill that does anything you can possibly imagine you could do in arena-based combat.

Consider me converted. I get it now. More people need to grok this game. I'm part of the cult, and that's OK, because it's a great cult to be in.

The game is a re-release of the 2003 game with improvements that were possible to do without having final source code. I get that many just don't care about that point (should you need to?) but it is what it is and it is a huge deal to not have access to source yet try to improve things anyway. Could we have done more if we had working final source code? Yes, without a doubt, but that wasn't the case.

Let me add that Code Mystics (the development team) are absolute ninjas. This was a 2003 4:3 game. They cracked open and rewrote the renderer, fixed the culling (making the screen display 16x9 is only the first part of the issue), added LIVE support, enabled easy balance tuning, got cross-play working, re-enabled hundreds of custom shaders and VFX (DX8 to DX11 is not a fun conversion, I've learned), made UI changes, and got the framerate to a massively stable 30 FPS on any machine / platform, all while not being able to truly modify the game at its core. That is a feat. Likely you have to be in development to appreciate that, but it's not easy work.

Why isn't it 60 FPS?
The entire engine was built around the game running at 30 FPS. Everything in the code and data is either frames @ 30, assumes 30, or hard-coded to expect 30 FPS.

The frame rate averages 30 FPS now on a wide range of systems. The worst dips we've seen are to 26/27 in certain moments. This is massively improved from the original (for those that played it) which would drop into the teens constantly on destruction events.

Here's PC min-specs:
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz | AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 | AMD Radeon HD 7750
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection

It's an XPA title, so cross-play and cross-saves are supported.

Why original assets?
Because we didn't have source is the major reason, and also because for a 2003 game, it holds up well in comparison to other games from that time. That's subjective of course, but we're trying to capture and preserve what PD was, not re-create it. It was funky, certainly, and that's part of its DNA.

Why wasn't a date / price announced?
We're re-releasing PD because we love its unique gameplay and style. Everyone here at MS wants PD to get a chance to be played, so sometimes dates, price, and how to get it broad exposure is debated a lot. Gold? Not? Free? Not? Other programs? It goes back and forth, and many different groups are in that discussion. The short of it is that we want everyone to be able to play PD, so you can expect it'll be priced accordingly.

OMG there's micro-transactions?!
Yes, to accelerate multiplayer deck building. It is completely optional. The campaign gets you a lot of skills and credits to use just by playing through it. You also earn skills and credits just by playing MP as well. PD already has a skill shop, credits, random "junk" packs, rare skills, and everything you'd seen in games today -- and it did all that in 2003.

There's also free skills and a deck case you get to start MP off with, so that if you don't want to play the campaign, you don't have to.

Graphics are dated, meme.jpg, etc.
Yep! It's a game from 2003. We preserved its look, but really you shouldn't be hung up on looks here because this is a player's game, not a looker's game. Design-wise and mechanically, you will not find another game that plays like it, even today (closest in feeling is MOBAs, actually).

Sometimes (well, OK, often) we make games to make money, but this re-release isn't focused on that. It's about recognizing something unique and novel, and allowing more people to discover it. PD's play - especially multiplayer - is completely unique and (IMO) very, very fun. It never got a chance to prove that on its original (limited) release, so now more people get to discover it, which is all we want out of it.

So I'll simply close by saying play first, then judge. Feel free to tweet me your thoughts once it's out (@Ishmae1) and I'll be happy to discuss it with you.

It's a 2004/5 game, btw. In no territory did it come out in 2003.
 

Gestault

Member
LNajuAM.gif


VenDGiS.gif


YkJYw9r.gif


Just got to the part about finding the silk-screens for the original disc pressings when they were doing research. That's awesome.
 
It's basically not. Int he vdieo they talk about how PD was one of those games where the source code mysteriously dissapeared, so they had to work backwards from binaries.

Yeah, fair enough. I just mean... This isn't like getting Bluepoint in or anything like that. But you're right, it's difficult to classify.
 

NolbertoS

Member
It IS that version.

Sigh. 480i fuzzed up old 3D games so much that people thought they looked better than they did.

It looks way rougher from what I remember and I played the shit outta that game. It looks like its slightly half assed TBH. They should've just used the modeling from the other developer they yanked it from and use that existing engine.

Edit: just saw those comparison shot to the old and remaster from another post. I'll wait and see how it holds up when it gets released
 
Nice post Adam. Now get cracking on the other Xbox classics with wider appeal!

Crimson Skies, PGR2, Rallisport 2 etc. Also the Goldeneye remaster which we know Rare already made.

Thanks again!
 

wwm0nkey

Member
It looks way rougher from what I remember and I played the shit outta that game. It looks like its slightly half assed TBH. They should've just used the modeling from the other developer they yanked it from and use that existing engine.

They didn't have the budget or access to the source code, they reverse engineered the game basically.
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
Jesus they had to do this without the source code.

What was it with Japanese developers and not preserving source code for games?
 

bede-x

Member
OMG there's micro-transactions?!
Yes, to accelerate multiplayer deck building. It is completely optional. The campaign gets you a lot of skills and credits to use just by playing through it. You also earn skills and credits just by playing MP as well. PD already has a skill shop, credits, random "junk" packs, rare skills, and everything you'd seen in games today -- and it did all that in 2003.

But it didn't have microtransactions in 2003. I'm happy to see a re-release of an old game, but it is disappointing that while it's a"port" where you couldn't change too much, you still found a way to add microtransactions. And yes, I know the PR answer is that it's optional and won't affect the game, but it usually does and it's hard to see that it won't, when people who choose to pay to unlock the cards, will have them long before other players.
 

Kssio_Aug

Member
The game is a re-release of the 2004 game with improvements that were possible to do without having final source code. I get that many just don't care about that point (should you need to?) but it is what it is and it is a huge deal to not have access to source yet try to improve things anyway. Could we have done more if we had working final source code? Yes, without a doubt, but that wasn't the case.

That probably explains a lot. Thanks for all the info!
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
But it didn't have microtransactions in 2003. I'm happy to see a re-release of an old game, but it is disappointing that while it's a"port" where you couldn't change too much, you still found a way to add microtransaction. And yes, I know the PR answer is that it's optional and won't affect the game, but it usually does and it's hard to see that it won't, when people who choose to pay to unlock the cards, will have them long before other players.

Welcome to 2017. Its a given at this point.
 

GHG

Member
But it didn't have microtransactions in 2003. I'm happy to see a re-release of an old game, but it is disappointing that while it's a"port" where you couldn't change too much, you still found a way to add microtransaction. And yes, I know the PR answer is that it's optional and won't affect the game, but it usually does and it's hard to see that it won't, when people who choose to pay to unlock the cards, will have them long before other players.

Saved me a post. Glad I'm not the only one who finds that aspect out of all of this to be a bit of a piss take.

That said, I'm still keen to check this out and see what the fuss is about provided the microtransactions genuinely don't change the balance of the game.

It's a wait and see for me.

Welcome to 2017. Its a given at this point.

It doesn't matter what year it is, it doesn't make it acceptable.
 
"That said, I'm still keen to check this out and see what the fuss is about provided the microtransactions genuinely don't change the balance of the game."


If (if) you can still unlock skills normally, you unlock almost every single skill in the game over the course of the (rather solid) single player story campaign.
 

Ishmae1

Member
"That said, I'm still keen to check this out and see what the fuss is about provided the microtransactions genuinely don't change the balance of the game."

If (if) you can still unlock skills normally, you unlock every single skill in the game over the course of the (rather solid) single player story campaign.

You can still unlock everything normally, and the MP shop now always acts as if you've finished the campaign, so there's a chance for any skill to be available (including ultra-rares) every time you visit the MP shop.

Also, you can now skip campaign missions after 3 retry attempts, and we still give you all the skill / credit rewards.

And you can still trade skills and credits online.
 

FinKL

Member
I first played it after hearing Phil mention that he constantly gets asked about it by press / fans on Twitter. Grabbed it on 360 BC.
Consider me converted. I get it now. More people need to grok this game. I'm part of the cult, and that's OK, because it's a great cult to be in.

Oh man this game came out in 2004? I was still a teenager and I remember getting it on sale on my base exchange for some insane deal and said "what the hell?". Like you mention, it starts slow but slowly opens up to a deep card/rpg/fps type game. I was so sad that I couldn't play it with anyone as theres so many combinations to try! I had thought of this as the greatest OG Xbox game (well I liked Crimson Skies too!) so I'm glad it's coming back in some form. Thanks for adding more info to the gameplay clip.
 

Zeta Oni

Member
You can still unlock everything normally, and the MP shop now always acts as if you've finished the campaign, so there's a chance for any skill to be available (including ultra-rares) every time you visit the MP shop.

Also, you can now skip campaign missions after 3 retry attempts, and we still give you all the skill / credit rewards.

And you can still trade skills and credits online.

Do you still have to unlock the 74 DLC skills or are those available immediately?

I remember you use to have to get like 30 wins to get one.
 

Spade

Member
Let me clear the air a bit. I'm Adam Isgreen (mods feel free to verify), the guy talking in the interview.

My bad for not correcting Nick immediately on remaster vs. re-release. We had a fire drill go off during the interview (random, yes), and that certainly disrupted the flow of the conversation, as we picked up in the middle after I could get back in the building.

My personal story on PD is that I missed it on the original Xbox. I'm pretty ashamed of that since I adore all of Futatsugi-san's games, have all of the Panzers in both Japanese and English, including Saga (SEGA GIVE IT TO CODE MYSTICS!), and I somehow missed this game.

I first played it after hearing Phil mention that he constantly gets asked about it by press / fans on Twitter. Grabbed it on 360 BC. After the first hour I thought "what is all the fuss about?". It starts slow and doesn't pick up until you get past Chapter 2 and can build arsenals (decks), which can be a good two hours into the game. Once that happens in campaign, and when you start to play multiplayer, this light goes on and you realize how deep and amazing this game is at its heart. 13 years and there's no perfect deck to the game. Stick skill and deck planning are equally as important. Teamwork is insanely rewarding. There's a skill that does anything you can possibly imagine you could do in arena-based combat.

Consider me converted. I get it now. More people need to grok this game. I'm part of the cult, and that's OK, because it's a great cult to be in.

The game is a re-release of the 2004 game with improvements that were possible to do without having final source code. I get that many just don't care about that point (should you need to?) but it is what it is and it is a huge deal to not have access to source yet try to improve things anyway. Could we have done more if we had working final source code? Yes, without a doubt, but that wasn't the case.

Let me add that Code Mystics (the development team) are absolute ninjas. This was a 2004 4:3 game. They cracked open and rewrote the renderer, fixed the culling (making the screen display 16x9 is only the first part of the issue), added LIVE support, enabled easy balance tuning, got cross-play working, re-enabled hundreds of custom shaders and VFX (DX8 to DX11 is not a fun conversion, I've learned), made UI changes, and got the framerate to a massively stable 30 FPS on any machine / platform, all while not being able to truly modify the game at its core. That is a feat. Likely you have to be in development to appreciate that, but it's not easy work.

Why isn't it 60 FPS?
The entire engine was built around the game running at 30 FPS. Everything in the code and data is either frames @ 30, assumes 30, or hard-coded to expect 30 FPS.

The frame rate averages 30 FPS now on a wide range of systems. The worst dips we've seen are to 26/27 in certain moments. This is massively improved from the original (for those that played it) which would drop into the teens constantly on destruction events.

Here's PC min-specs:
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E6550 @ 2.33GHz | AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 | AMD Radeon HD 7750
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection

It's an XPA title, so cross-play and cross-saves are supported.

Why original assets?
Because we didn't have source is the major reason, and also because for a 2004 game, it holds up well in comparison to other games from that time. That's subjective of course, but we're trying to capture and preserve what PD was, not re-create it. It was funky, certainly, and that's part of its DNA.

Why wasn't a date / price announced?
We're re-releasing PD because we love its unique gameplay and style. Everyone here at MS wants PD to get a chance to be played, so sometimes dates, price, and how to get it broad exposure is debated a lot. Gold? Not? Free? Not? Other programs? It goes back and forth, and many different groups are in that discussion. The short of it is that we want everyone to be able to play PD, so you can expect it'll be priced accordingly.

OMG there's micro-transactions?!
Yes, to accelerate multiplayer deck building. It is completely optional. The campaign gets you a lot of skills and credits to use just by playing through it. You also earn skills and credits just by playing MP as well. PD already has a skill shop, credits, random "junk" packs, rare skills, and everything you'd seen in games today -- and it did all that in 2004.

There's also free skills and a deck case you get to start MP off with, so that if you don't want to play the campaign, you don't have to.

Graphics are dated, meme.jpg, etc.
Yep! It's a game from 2004. We preserved its look, but really you shouldn't be hung up on looks here because this is a player's game, not a looker's game. Design-wise and mechanically, you will not find another game that plays like it, even today (closest in feeling is MOBAs, actually).

Sometimes (well, OK, often) we make games to make money, but this re-release isn't focused on that. It's about recognizing something unique and novel, and allowing more people to discover it. PD's play - especially multiplayer - is completely unique and (IMO) very, very fun. It never got a chance to prove that on its original (limited) release, so now more people get to discover it, which is all we want out of it.

So I'll simply close by saying play first, then judge. Feel free to tweet me your thoughts once it's out (@Ishmae1) and I'll be happy to discuss it with you.
Thank you for the info! Also, thank you to everyone involved, been looking forward to it. And yes, Sega should def give Code Mystics the chance!
 

Ishmae1

Member
Do you still have to unlock the 74 DLC skills or are those available immediately?

I remember you use to have to get like 30 wins to get one.

The DLC skills will be released all at once a bit after we're launched, and it won't be nearly as painful to get them all.
 

Raide

Member
Thank you for the info! Also, thank you to everyone involved, been looking forward to it. And yes, Sega should def give Code Mystics the chance!

A new PD would be amazing to see. Hoping this remake leads to people seeing how cool and unique PD really was.

All the deck building and skill stuff would be a real crowd pleaser in today's market. People love playing card games and people love punching stuff in the face!
 

KageMaru

Member
I dont know what people were expecting. Its basically a resolution boost and online play revived. Im in.

Yeah I'm thinking a lot of the negative impressions are from people who aren't that familiar with the original game. I thought it was a fine looking Remaster.
 
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